starting the dome

[pizzamama]

I am starting my dome and oven floor. I am puzzled regarding the slip plane. The way the plans read it says "don't mortar floor in place, spread a thin layer of sand and fire clay to provide a slip plane between oven & hearth. " then I put the mortar (paste) on top of the sand and use a notched trowel. My ? is; If the mortar is the consistency of paste will it not pick up the dry sand and fireclay mixture preventing me from being able to spread it out properly? ?2 Do i lay the fire brick while the mortatr is wet so that I can tap them into place and make them level?

Any help is appreciated

[Robert Musa]

when i built mine (a pompeii) i just used a single layer of a mixture of fireclay and sand and water (mixed to a mud like consistency) that i spread out with a notched trowel. if your hearth base is uneven (which mine was), lay the bricks on the highest points first because its easier to make the other bricks come up to level than it would be to make a brick come down to level. (i hope that's not too unclear). disregard my advice if you are installing a forno bravo oven... that's out of my area of expertise.

[Dirtt]

pompeii vs. forno bravo

when i built mine (a pompeii) i just used a single layer of a mixture of fireclay and sand and water (mixed to a mud like consistency) that i spread out with a notched trowel. if your hearth base is uneven (which mine was), lay the bricks on the highest points first because its easier to make the other bricks come up to level than it would be to make a brick come down to level. (i hope that's not too unclear). disregard my advice if you are installing a forno bravo oven... that's out of my area of expertise.

I'm very green when it comes to brick ovens.

You differentiate between the two ovens. Care to explain?

[jengineer]

ovens

the types of ovens that are made by the home builders on this site are using tha plans that are called Pompeii.

The web site that supports us and this forum is called FornoBravo. If making an oven seems to be out of your league then James - the owner of this site sells premade ovens he has varoius sizes available. Robert called this oven "forno bravo" which is a misnomer for the styles that are available.

[james]

Different ways of building a Pizza Oven

Patrick has it right.

There are roughly three ways of installing a pizza oven:

1. You can build an oven from bricks using Forno Bravo's Pompeii Oven plans. You get the pleasure of building the oven dome and save a little $, though the construction process can be difficult, and it takes a lot of time. There is also some risk that something might go wrong. The basic idea behind the plans (which are freely available and community supported) is to grow the community of wood-fired oven lovers -- which is good for everyone.

2. You can buy a Pizza Oven kit from Forno Bravo. We sell three residential pre-made pizza oven lines, each of those in 3-4 sizes -- so there is a lot of choice. We even have a line of handmade true brick pizza ovens, which are beautiful. I saw with the Artigiano oven builder yesterday, and he even let me in his workshop. The pre-made ovens are the Forno Bravo Casa, Premio and Artigiano.

The pre-made ovens save you a lot of time and they are a no-risk option. They are made in large volumes, use an "engineered" refractory material and they are time-tested, so they heat up fast, cook really well and last. Selling oven kits is our main business.

3. You can buy a fully assembled oven from Forno Bravo. We assemble the pre-cast ovens into complete ovens on a tray that you just set in place. The advantage is that you avoid the hassle and time of installation, but you don't have as much control over customization.

Everyone can buy all of their oven accessories and pizza ingredients from the Forno Bravo Store (you can shop on line). We have just about everything you can think of for a wood-fired oven.

I always wanted to bring the "real" Italian pizza oven market to the states, and so far, everything is working really well.

Enjoy.
James